WILMINGTON, Mass. — The morning after Daniel Carcillo’s bite allegations against Bruins center Marc Savard from Monday night’s Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series became a focal point of the playoff showdown, Savard was ready to turn the page.

“It’s a non-issue. It’s nothing,” he said after taking part in an optional practice at Ristuccia Arena today.

Considering they’re all in agreement that there was no bite, the Bruins could look at Carcillo’s accusation and the firestorm it has created as a distraction Philadelphia is trying to create to hide behind now that the Flyers are down 2-0, and/or it could be a serious insult to Savard’s manhood. Head coach Claude Julien didn’t want to classify it either way.

“The one thing is that, for me, we’re up 2-0 in this series. We won two big home games. We’ve got to stay focused here and stay focused on our game and not be distracted by what’s being said,” said the coach. “To me, it’s pretty obvious. The guy (Carcillo) yesterday, when you watch replays, everybody’s seen how he embellishes. So it’s hard to believe a guy when you see stuff that he does. We really don’t pay attention to that. We’re focused on staying the course here and doing our job and that’s the main thing.”

Photo by Sharon Bradley.

The scrum in question occurred after Savard took a swipe at Brian Boucher’s glove after a whistle. Both Carcillo and Kimmo Timonen shoved Savard down and the pushing and shoving them shifted to the corner. It wasn’t the first time Carcillo went after Savard. In Game 1, Carcillo had his hand around Savard’s throat (see photo left) during one scrum.

However, Savard — just two games into his return from a major concussion — doesn’t think he’s being targeted.

“Obviously, the Savvy thing, I realize they reacted to a whack. I’m not on the ice, so there’s nothing really I can do about it. You can’t do anything about it afterward; you can’t take a penalty,” Thornton said. “So I wouldn’t say it’s liberties. I think it’s just playing hard. We have to play hard on the other side too.”

Carcillo refused to return a verbal volley to Julien after Flyers practice.

“It’s the last game, it’s over and hopefully I get matched up against (Savard’s) line,” Carcillo told the Associated Press.